This disclosure relates to computer read pre-fetch operations.
Existing PCI bridges assist in the control of the sequencing of operations and access to computer busses in accordance with the bus specification (such as, for example, PCI Local Bus Specification Rev. 2.2 published by the PCI Special Interest Group). Pre-fetch algorithms are not covered by the PCI specification, but are widely employed by PCI devices to circumvent a fundamental issue with PCI protocol: it does not include a read amount embedded within each transaction. Such PCI devices employ a static read pre-fetch which requests the same amount of information for a particular type of read operation, regardless of the actual demands of the requesting agent. While this constant pre-fetch amount may be adjustable by means of a device specific configuration register, the selected amount is constant and applicable to all requesting agents served in connection with that register. A static pre-fetch amount may result in pre-fetching too much data.